 You’ve been BOOOOOKed! 👻
Looking for a fun alternative to the ‘Boo’ community builder? I started doing this to promote some fun for the holidays and share newer scary reads with our staff. There’s so many good things about this activity to not do it! It promotes new books, connects you with your fellow colleagues, gives others a chance to dedicate reading aloud to students and model how fun reading can be, and who doesn’t love a yummy pick me up during their day? How does this work? In the bag, I put a new(er) scary book, yummy goodies like ghost cookies (thanks, Target!), fun toys like vampire teeth or bubbles, and a flashlight. The card inside asks the teacher to read aloud the first chapter and then pass it on to another teacher either with their book or a scary favorite of their own. You could easily do this with library books or purchase gently used/new copies from a local bookstore. I personally purchased copies from my local store so the teachers could keep them (all of our high interest reads are always out), and this allows teachers to share their favorite scary books as well. Think of it like scary book telephone! You can mix up your titles with older ones like Rot & Ruin that need to make a comeback or newer titles like The Taking of Jake Livingston. The tweaks you can make on this open a broad interpretation for your particular needs. Have you tried something similar?! I’d love to hear about it!
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 Podcasts have completely changed how I do PD. It's amazing have access to professional learning anytime, anywhere. While I started podcasts a few years ago with This American Life, I find myself listening to more and more education-centered ones. Why?
So, where do you start? Check out my Top 10 favorites below! My Top 10 Favorite Podcasts for School LibrariansSchool Librarians United with Amy Hermon School Librarians United is a podcast dedicated to the nuts and bolts of running a successful school library. From genrefying to student library boards to diversity audits to programming, tune in to learn all about the issues and challenges school librarians face everyday! Leading from the Library with Future Ready Librarians This podcast from Future Ready Librarians and Shannon Miller includes stories of how school librarians are tackling the unique issues that are facing school libraries today from planning for remote student learning with equity in mind, creating flexible schedules to supporting parents and families with blended learning environments. Moonshots Podcast: Learning Out Loud The Moonshots Podcast goes behind the scenes of the world's greatest superstars, thinkers and entrepreneurs to discover the secrets to their success. They deconstruct their success from mindset to daily habits so that we can apply it to our lives. TED: How to Be a Better Human How To Be A Better Human isn’t your average self improvement podcast. Each uncover sharp insights and give clear takeaways on how YOU can be a better human. From your work to your home and your head to your heart, How To Be a Better Human looks in unexpected places for new ways to improve and show up for one another. This is a great podcast to incorporate SEL into our daily lives as librarians. The Creative Classroom John Spencer and the Creative Classroom has episodes about growth mindset, project-based learning, design thinking, and, of course, creativity.Are you looking to add more creativity into your MakerSpace, collaborations, or PD? This one comes out each Monday and is only about 15 minutes! The Balance by Catlin Tucker In each episode, Tucker talks with thought leaders to explore this complex issue, striving for ways to achieve a healthier work-life balance and address the question, ‘How do we empower ourselves to create and implement boundaries both inside and outside of the classroom?’” The Balance will help with your instructional partnerships and leading from the middle. Dare to Lead with Brene Brown As school librarians, we lead from the middle. This podcast is uplifting and informative as Brown includes conversations with change-catalysts, culture-shifters and more than a few troublemakers who are innovating, creating, and daring to lead. Cult of Pedagogy Teaching strategies, classroom management, education reform, educational technology — if it has something to do with teaching, she talks about it. On the podcast, Jennifer Gonzalez interviews educators, students, administrators and parents about the psychological and social dynamics of school, trade secrets, and other juicy things you’ll never learn in a textbook. TNT EdTech Podcast From the creative minds of Scott Nunes and Matthew Ketchum, TNT EdTech Podcast offers insights into a variety of topics that can support school librarians and other educators from AR/VR to English strategies to leadership styles. The House of #EdTech The House of #EdTech Podcast shares stories from teachers and creators about education technology, recommends the valuable tools, tips, and resources to integrate technology into your classroom and instruction. It's perfect for those who want to stay up to date with how EdTech is changing in education.   Let's celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month! If you're looking for resources, books, activities, or even a Spotify playlist, check out my Destiny Collection here.  Reader's advisory has always been one of my favorite components to being a humanities teacher turned school librarian! I love seeing the spark come alive when you're able to connect a student to a book based on their interests. Below you'll find posters I created based on some of my favorite suggestions paired with interests students have expressed to me. Feel free to use them! The dimensions of the pdf file are 24" x 36" but can be printed as flyers or smaller if needed. What else would you like to see? Tell me in the comments below! Disclaimer I don't ask for compensation for the resources I share out. I believe in community over competition, and that we are stronger when we share with one another. My ask, though, is that if you share out with colleagues to please make sure you credit me. Thanks for keeping us honest and modeling good digital citizenship skills! 
My school district started back for preplanning this week! This was my first official week at my new school and to say it's been busy would be an understatement. My new school is brand new and so I am learning how to navigate not only the transition from middle to high school but also opening a school, starting a library program from scratch, and building relationships with 70 other people who are also brand new to the school. It's been stressful, but I am also so excited to see the direction this school is moving as the first STEM school in our district.
Now that you have some background to where I'm at, you'll know that I have priorities that have been higher on my list than building out our catalog for students. However, I feel better when I've accomplished something so I started working on our homepage last night (I'm that nerd who works on nerdy things on a Friday night while watching Hamilton for the millionth time ??♀️). When I posted what I was working on to Instagram, it occurred to me that this could be useful to others as I was receiving tons of DMs about how I made this work. I am posting a list of HTML cheat codes for you below if you'd like to freshen up your homepage! If you're unsure of how to edit your homepage or post embedded links, keep scrolling down. HTML Cheat CodesHow to Edit Your Homepage
Make sure you are logged in as a library administrator to your Destiny site.
 I know, I know! For many of us, it's way too early to want to think about planning for this upcoming school year. It's that feeling when you walk into Target and the back to school section is in full bloom. Heart racing and palms sweating...It's a lot for those of us who want to relax and recharge. For school librarians, though, we can't wait until August to begin planning out programming for our patrons. Guest speakers, authors, or community organizations do not operate on a summer break, so if you want to book someone (especially for a lower cost!) you need to book early. Not to mention we all know how preplanning goes in terms of our planning - there is none. If your experience is anything like mine, your preplanning is full of meetings, helping teachers, coplanning lessons, offering technology PD, and more (*cough* fixing the laminator for the 20th time *cough*). It's ten times harder if you do not have a parapro. Program planning then takes a backseat and can end up being rushed or not done at all. School libraries are community hubs meant to inspire connection, exploration, and creation. That takes intentional planning. I do a mix of passive programming (ex: placing legos with a prompt) and intentional programming (ex: one book, one school) throughout the year. Sometimes these programs are last minute because of a culture phenomenon like a Tik Tok Open Mic morning, but most of the time, I plan months in advance so I can arrange volunteers, teacher participation, a marketing plan, and plan for any costs. I created this planner when I saw a need to put more intention behind my planning for programs and to help our Student Library Advisory Board think through the ins and outs of a successful program. I hope it helps you whether you use it now or later! Tech tip: I download these planners and upload to my school library OneNote Notebook and use the drawing tool/text features to add my ideas and plans. Use the canva templates below to tweak what you need and download as a png file or pdf depending on what tech tool you use! Ready to Print Resources
Canva Templates
I recently had the pleasure of being able to share at the 2021 Galileo Annual Conference on the topic of advocacy. It is essential that as school librarians, we are actively engaged in advocating for our students and programs. Check out the curated list of resources I shared out during the session below.
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Martha BongiornoSchool Librarian in Metro Atlanta 
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